Insulin: Weight, Fat Tissue, Triglycerides

Insulin puts glucose in your liver, muscle and fat cells. (R) Insulin forces fat cells to take up blood fat (lipids) and also converts those fat to other kinds of fat (triglycerides). (R) Insulin decreases the release of fat in your fat cells, so you store more fat. (R)

In healthy men, insulin was shown to decrease levels of triglycerides and cholesterol (VLDL) [R].

It’s also protective by storing fat (higher blood fat is not good).

Insulin has been shown to be important in maintaining levels of an enzyme responsible for breaking down triglycerides in fat tissue [R].

Fat tissue has been shown to release adipokines which may play a role in causing insulin resistance [R].

In-vitro, insulin stimulates the creation of fat tissue through the utilization of glucose [R].

In healthy men, elevated insulin levels were associated with greater amounts of fat around the organs (visceral fat) [R]

The Bad

Cancer

Fasting glucose, insulin, and the presence of insulin resistance were are correlated to an increased risk of pancreatic cancer [R].

There were found to be elevations of a hormone related to insulin (IGF-1) in people with lung cancer [R].

Hyperinsulinemia may be associated with an increased risk of colon cancer (correlation versus causation is an issue here) [R].

Liver

In isolated rat liver cells insulin was shown to inhibit the release of cholesterol (VLDL) and stimulate the release of triglycerides [R].

Autophagy

Insulin is bad in that it decreases autophagy, or breaking down of damaged cellular parts (organelles) (R). When you decrease autophagy, your cells don’t work as well.

The Good

Blood Glucose

Insulin is responsible for lowering glucose and storing it in bodily tissues such as fat, muscle, and liver [R].

Lowered levels of insulin cause liver to convert glycogen to glucose and excrete it into the blood. (R) This is one reason why many of my thin clients with low insulin also often have higher blood glucose.

So we see insulin can be protective in many ways by lowering blood glucose…. It does this by converting glucose to glycogen, increasing glucose uptake (in muscle, liver, and fat) and decreasing glucose production from protein.

Nerves and Brain

In a literature review, insulin was shown to enter the brain through the BBB (blood brain barrier) and exert its effects via brain insulin receptors [R].

Cardiovascular

In pig hearts, insulin is able to increase heart muscle contractibility [R].

Insulin forces artery wall muscles to relax, thereby increasing blood flow, especially in micro arteries. A lack of insulin reduces flow. (R) In the thin people I deal with, they often feel cold. One of the many reasons is because of low insulin, which reduces blood flow.

Muscle

Insulin decreases the breakdown of protein from your muscle and also increases uptake of protein/amino acids – hence why bodybuilders like to spike insulin with glucose. (R)

Muscles play a very large role in the utilization and metabolism of glucose mediated by insulin [R]. Diabetics showed much less ability to utilize glucose in muscle tissue due to insulin resistance [R].

GDR (glucose disposal rate a marker for insulin resistance, lower in insulin-resistant individuals) was found to be correlated with creatinine clearance, APO A-1/B, acidosis, and a negative correlation with creatinine levels [R]

Irregular Insulin Levels?

If you have not yet tested your insulin levels, I recommend that you ask your doctor to do it. If you already have your blood test results and you’re not sure what to make of them, you need to check out Lab Test Analyzer. It does all the heavy lifting for you. No need to do thousands of hours of research on what to make of your various blood tests.

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JOE COHEN

CEO, SelfHacked

About Joe

Growing up, Joe was plagued with a myriad of health issues such as gut problems, autoimmune issues, chronic fatigue, brain fog, insomnia, and general inflammation. Both conventional and alternative doctors weren’t able to help him, so he decided to fix himself. With lots of health questions and few satisfying answers, Joe decided to read every research paper he could get his hands on and conduct thousands of experiments on his own body in order to fix his health issues. Joe started SelfHacked in late 2013 when he successfully fixed all of his issues, and now it gets millions of readers a month looking to educate themselves about how they can improve their health. Joe is now a thriving author, speaker, and serial entrepreneur, founding SelfDecode & LabTestAnalyzer.

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